Sword Art Online-The Other
by ItsDaKoolaidDude
Summary: It was just a simple task of just dive in, look about, take a few whacks, then pull out and that would've been that. The government official said it'd be simple, the foreign government official asking for help said it'd be simple. The fort full of military that was supplying the resources needed said it'd be simple. Why else wouldn't it have been simple?
1. Chapter 1

A calm, but noisy night, as the sounds of cars from the highways and city roads either roared past or slowed to a stop. It was an early night, barely past 7 PM, as he calmly walked down the sidewalk, lazily looking at the advertisements and through the windows of various shops that were soon to close. Their owners either hurrying or patiently waiting for customers to leave so they would turn off the lights, close and lock the doors and windows and go home to either their families or their lonesome lifestyles.

A few shops gave him some interest, though he would pass by them regardless, not needing a thing from their wares that they publicly offered.

After wandering from one side of the city to the other, he turned one direction and walked out of the city itself, nearing the city limits, pondering where else he could go. Perhaps San Diego? It was a smaller city, but it was much cleaner. Or mayhaps Tijuana? It had been quite some years since he had seen that city.

He stopped as he returned his attention to reality, looking around in the most unusually calm manner, as if seeing a dozen police squad cars parked and barricaded in front of him was just a typical sight to see.

The men and women near the cars were armed enough to make even the most deranged, armed and dangerous man pause. And yet they stiffened, patiently awaited for his reaction, acting as if they had been informed that hostilities could come at moments notice.

Instead of meeting their expected anxiety, he shrugged and laughed just audibly enough, "Alright. You have our attention, then, if you're going to all this trouble just to pull us over."

=(=)=(=)=

=(\\) Sword Art Online_The Other (/)=

=(=)=(=)=

The Chief of Police downed his second twelve-ounce cup of coffee, lightly creamed with the taste of pumpkin spice, as he sat in the room behind the one-way mirror, looking in at the clearly relaxed and patient man in the interrogating room.

The chief groused to himself. Why on earth did he have to pull a full dozen police force just to pull and grab the attention of just one man? What in God's name was this all about anyway? With that kind of force being demanded to be sent out, the chief expected to be confronting a man armed with latest military tech and equipment and had the advanced training to use them in lethal efficiency, not some kid barely above twenty-five dressed in civilian wear befitting someone who travels half a state.

And yet here everyone was, the kid reclining his chair onto its back legs with his legs crosslegged on the table, and the chief forced to wait for the dumb son of a bitch to arrive.

The chief looked down at a file that was unusually light and had very few papers held within it, detailing on the kid's life, date and location of birth, Social Security ID and familial ties. The absence of a criminal history only made the Chief of Police more unhappy that they went through all this trouble for someone who was clean of any serious enough crime to even slap his wrist and leave him with a warning.

The door inside the interrogation room swung open, getting both the kid and the chief's attention as one Japanese man and two American men walked in. All three men were sharply dressed in suits, though the Americans were dressed in a deep royal blue while the Japanese man wore a solid black and white.

Then the door nearby the police chief opened and revealed one of his lieutenants. The man promptly asked,"What the fuck is going on? Pulling away a full dozen just for some kid and placing me out of the 'Need-to-know'?"

The lieutenant helplessly shrugged, "All I got is those three're from the government. Man in black's all the way from Japan. Other than that, somethin's got them spooked enough."

"Spooked? For what, the kid?"

"Ain't it, chief. But that guy's either connected or something if they're pulling something like this outta our asses."

His answer didn't set well for the chief as he returned his attention. The young adult was now sitting up right and looking at the Japanese man with an inquisitive look as the man placed a few files down in front of him, speaking in his native language.

The kid took the files and scanned them over, occasionally pausing at either some image or some word, the chief couldn't see and the camera nearby him couldn't make it out as clearly as he wanted.

'S'what I get, expecting all that fancy-shmanced bullcrap the crime tv-shows do.' He inwardly chuckled, wondering who else decided to join either a C.I or the local police force in the optimistic expectation to see all the high-tech gear.

The kid subsequently closed the folder and asked in seemingly fluent Japanese, revealing he had taken time learning a second language to the chief. From what he could tell from the tone and attitude between the man and the kid, the man seemed to be asking something out of the kid, but in what way he couldn't tell. But it was clear that the kid had the reigns in the conversation, as he didn't seem pressured, nor did he act like he was brought in for some crime.

The two went back and forth, questions asked and answered, the folder between them was taken and scanned over again, occasionally something was pointed out before the folder would be laid back down on the table.

Finally after almost a full minute of silence, to the point the chief believed the young adult fell asleep, the kid shifted out of his thoughts and replied suddenly, almost in a curt tone.

The Japanese man emitted a sigh of relief, standing up and giving a bow with what seemed to be profoundly thankful response as the young adult stood up as well. The man offered a hand which was taken in and given a firm grasp and shake before he motioned to the American agents that had been standing in the corner throughout the conversation.

All four walked out of the room, the Japanese man talking again in native tongue to the young adult as the Chief of Police just silently watched what seemed to have been a simple deal.

Now completely beside himself, he stormed out of the room and dashed over to one of the American agents asking impatiently, "Alright, now what's going on? You pull twelve cars out for some kid and you make some sort of deal with him?"

Not pausing in his stride, the agent replied, "That is indeed the case, sir."

"Is the police force a joke to you?" The Chief softly demanded, not wanting to cause too much of a scene, "We're not thugs that just yank people off the streets to make some obscure deal with them for some obscure business you three are pulling!"

The agent just looked back and asked, "Could have fooled me, sir."

=(+)=(+)=

AN: Oh my god I'm back here again?

Well yes and no. Mostly, I've gotten back into writing fics and stories and whatnot. Only thing is, my oh so colorfully imaginative fustercluck of a mind is a complete mess and I end up having thoughts and consideration about _one_ story, then sidetracked or writers block on another story, which results in the attempt of trying to get past that block with a different story and, oh lordy it gets me confused enough to not make sense in a conversation sometimes. So! I'm just throwing stories that I've got in mind over here till I either finish this or ... something ... feck

Oh by the way, I got lessons and advices by the bigger fish, so if you've been having me in the favorites/follow, you're in for a surprise just how different shit's gotten with my content.

Also, I've yet to get inspiration back into the older stories. Might redo them, still have that last chapter for the incomplete-almost complete story, as well as a few prototype chapters for the other one I started then dropped.

But yeah, back from the eternal dead, writers unite.

Quick AN over here, forgot to throw the Copyright claim before starting all this.

I do not own S.A.O, nor any of its characters except for those I had made earlier on.

Also: ohohoho my god I love the update chapter function.


	2. Chapter 2

=(+)=(-)=

The young adult shifted as he continued watching the trailer, leaning his elbow against the car door. With all the fanfare and melodic music, it all could've been taken as just hype and meant to excite everyone. However, having dealt with and been around similar fanfares that either matched, sort of matched or was abysmally thrown aside by everyone and ridiculed, it didn't stir much from him.

The latter result made the man chuckle to himself, smiling as he recalled one game developing studio that announced a new mobile game in the face of hundreds of players who cared less and didn't engage in mobile games.

And last he checked, the same studio was attempting to wage a "war" with their own customers and former-fans and failing.

However, one thing did stick out of the trailer that was most intriguing, "Created a complete virtual environment."

Virtual Reality games had came a long way. Before it was just a heavy headset that required the player to stand up and look around with two controllers, sometimes requiring a keyboard, a mouse and who knows what else.

He turned his head to look at a few more files that had been given to him when he and the Japanese P.S.I.A. agent entered the car, which was traveling out of California and off to some place. Something about travel and to some secluded base, it didn't matter much to him and he had tuned out their desperate bid for secrecy, security and paranoia.

The young adult picked up one file and thumbed through it, looking in on a detailed file about the creator of this new V.R headset. Akihiko, Kayaba. Founder of the NerveGear, a full helmet-like headset that uses the brain as the 'controller', interpreting the neuro patterns into actions, and then processing both data and the virtual world into a neurological-level. Brainwaves into actions, sending signals and receiving signals and giving sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. At a consumer's price.

Eleven years ago, this was just a bold and reasonable prediction. Come 2019, it merely seemed ridiculous considering the gaming and political environment.

To come unto 2022 and having this ludicrously advanced software and hardware appear and be available to anyone? Either by miracle or gift of God, because there should have been no way this happened so soon.

The young adult mentally shelved the thought and comprehension away of it all for later as he looked into Akihiko's history and given interview. Twenty-eight years old born 1995, just a year after what would be Nintendo's greatest heyday began. Through childhood, he had been a complete bibliophile, though didn't take any interest in computers and video gaming, though he had interest in an ancient RPG known as Wizardry.

Thumbing through more, the RPG had provided enough inspiration to Akihiko to make the NerveGear and the newly launched Sword Art Online, with millions already struggling to obtain their first copies. Years of software tinkering and slaving himself away to the point he dragged his love interest into his life's work.

He felt the car slow to a stop and looked up, seeing that they had paused at a military checkpoint, the driver giving both his and the P.S.I.A.'s to the solider before the cards were returned and the soldiers around the car gave a salute.

The young adult looked over to the agent and asked, English this time, "Remind us again, why does this rub you so wrongly that you had to hunt for us and recruit us to just take a look-see?"

The agent looked back and, in imperfect English, "That is so there are no ..." He struggled to find the right words, "unknown difficulties? As you see, this is beyond simple happenings to create such technology. It is too far advanced compared to competitive companies, and available to the civilians with no prior ... Announcement?"

"And you fear there is a hidden and hostile intent." The young adult said, making his response a direct answer to the reason why he had been brought along.

The man paused to mentally translate before giving a nod, "Hai. We will provide necessary resources for you to scout and observe for a short time. If nothing happened and nothing is wrong, then we will concede and the matter is settled."

The young adult gave a short sigh through his nose as he looked out the window, watching the desert terrain pass by. So it was typical governmental paranoia, however there was a valid reason to it.

=(-)=(-)=

Brazen and uncaring for the reactions to some of the personnel inside the military base, the young adult dressed himself up with his newly given sweats that would allow his body to remain just comfortable and snug enough to not cut the circulation around his body and to reduce the chance of leaving marks on his back.

He turned down one corridor and turned once more to enter through a door that led into what would have been considered an advanced medical room, with dozens of machines and medical instruments surrounding an inclined medical bed. Three doctors were hard at work ensuring everything was running smoothly while one technical engineer overlooked and fiddled away with the same headset that the man had seen in the briefing folders.

It was considerably bulkier than he considered, it looked like something out of a fantasy space marine fiction, fit with a grey glass visor and leaving the mouth and neck exposed.

He eyed the whole scene with a regarded unhappiness as one military dressed man turned and realized he was standing there.

The militant crisply walked forwards and stated, offering a hand, "Sir, welcome to The Flint."

The young adult gripped the hand and shook it while asking with an eyebrow raised, "A new fort, sir? And here we thought the U.S. didn't have any more resources or territories to make more."

"Well apparently the higher ups had something stashed away." The soldier chuckled as he retracted his hand, "Since you're all dressed and done making some of the others all hot and bothered, let's give you the quick run down."

The two men came closer as one doctor looked up at them and reported, "Everything's ready on our end, sirs. Just waiting for McKenzie to finish booting up the game and system."

"Done, commander." The aforementioned man declared, standing up and giving a salute, "Games booting up and headsets ready."

"Excellent. So," The commander turned to the young adult and explained, "No doubt what the Govie from Japan told you, you're just going to be dipping in and take a quick look around. Once three hours passes by, we'll pull you out and that'll be that. We've been able to set up some programs that'll survey and look through your eyes. We'll be able see and hear what you do while you're there."

"Only three, mom? Can't I stay for four?" The young adult jokingly groused while another doctor started swabbing his arm and various parts of his chest before placing sensors on the applied areas.

A few of the personnel snorted while the commander gave a laugh, "Sorry, but if you're wanting to keep and play the game, you're gonna have to buy it yourself. Some of us here are eyeballing and drooling at the mouth to try it themselves."

After a few more jabs and jokes the young man grabbed the NerveGear and, after hefting it around and feeling how deceptively light it was, pressed the headset down and clasped the chinstraps together.

Inside was about as expected from other games or advanced headsets that had Heads-Up Displays. On the top left displayed the time being 12:58PM.

"Two minutes till the game launches." McKenzie reported to the commander, all the while some of the doctors finished up strapping sensors and held an I.V drip in hand, ready to place it within the young man's arm.

"Just enough time to make your own account and properly calibrate the NerveGear, I'd say." The soldier commented, "Alright let's boot 'er up and get started."

Almost all of the two minutes was spent calibrating and setting the helmet to the young man's personal preferences. The headset used the man's sense of touch through his hands, which instructed him to feel about his body to get a sense of height.

By the time it was 1:01PM, the young adult had hopped up onto the medical bed and settled in, letting the doctor who had kept the I.V ready insert the needle into his arm.

The commander leaned over and rested his arms on the railing of the bed and said, "Remember, just for three hours and you're just taking a look-see around. Take a whack at something or take a hit or two, but that's about it. We'll be seeing what you'll see and theres a little function that'll let us send a message to you saying we're still connected. Once you're in, go ahead and talk to us to make sure we get what you're saying and we'll ping back."

"Right," The young man replied, "Would you like fries when we come back?"

"If they have Jack 'n the Box curlys, I'll take a large." The commander chuckled before giving a quick tap on the railing before backing away.

The young man gave a smirk before giving a deep breath, closing his eyes as directed by the headset and declaring clearly, "Link. Start."

And felt like he went blind by the sheer explosion of white and color zooming by his peripherals.

=(-)=(+)=

AN: wait wot? anudda chapter so soon?

Yeah when I meant I get thoughts about a story down, I don't do it halfway like just half a chapter or so anymore. I keep going till the steam runs out, which happens to have been _four_.

Also this is good practice to try and keep chapters down low at the maximum of 5k words. My newest work outside of Fanfiction had me stupidly keep chapters around 10k-20k words … and the total word count on said story is around 160k words.

I can hear your face _paling_ at the thought of that.

Which is why and where this story came from, its to remove that dumb block to finish the story, and then do a complete rewrite... To quote JonTron: "Dis gon be a fun game."


	3. Chapter 3

=(-)=(+)=

[Touch … OK]  
[Sight … OK]  
[Hearing … OK]  
[Taste … OK]  
[Smell … OK]

The initial checks zoomed in front and flew away almost fast enough he was barely able to read what they had said except for the confirmations.

After a quick check and selection of preferred Language and running quickly through the login screen, the young adult hesitated and stared at the name selection screen.

It wasn't the lack of imagination or any ideas of a name coming to mind that made him pause. If it were just that, he'd just pick the most blatantly edgy name and be done with it, in fact he was just about to put 'Blade' on there just to hurry along.

... Maybe it was just the lack of imagination or just the uncomfortableness of having to name himself. Soon after leaving his parents home to travel he kept himself, within the barest definition of relatively nameless to the outside world except his own family members.

... Now that he thought about his borderline traveling hermit lifestyle, the man immediately took note to change that once he was done with this. It's one thing to travel about and not have your name be remembered often, but to be uncomfortable at mentioning his name or put any nickname that identified him? It's reaching pretty high levels of stupid.

After concluding with that, the man simply typed in 'Midir' just for the kick and giggle at having the referenced name to that one optional boss.

Soon after choosing that name and selecting 'Male', 'Midir' was given a welcoming text to the game and after more colors wheeling right past his peripherals, before finding himself in front of what seemed to be some sort of Romanesque walkway with an Ottoman Imperial Mosque towering in the background.

'Midir' looked around and saw flashes of light spawning multitudes of people while others started running off to some random direction in what almost convinced him to be some sort of Roman Arena with a bell tower in the center of it.

Midir looked down and looked over his appearance. He was dressed in what appeared to be some sort of medieval military training gear, with leather gloves, leather cuirass with what seemed to be basic leather jacket underneath and brown trousers.

"Hm." The man said as he looked about and, after getting the hang of associating mentally projecting that he was walking instead of physically walking, began to move about in one direction towards the walls of the 'arena'.

Then Midir remembered about what the commander said and asked quietly, "Commander? You there?"

A small red dot started appearing and blinking to the top left of his vision, making him impulsively snap his eyes towards it. Unfortunately that only led the red dot to zoom away from him and started to seem like it was blinking from his skull.

Admitting defeat to the blinking dot, he let his sight return to where he was walking before seeing the dot stop appearing.

He quickly dodged out of the way as he heard the footsteps of one player run towards his direction and nearly ran into him. After the player quickly turned to say "Sorry!" before turning back around and disappearing behind one pillar, Midir gave an annoyed huff but started to walk in the same direction as the player was headed.

As Midir continued to walk about, he looked around and took note how every other player interacted or summoned what seemed to be the 'menu' for various purposes.

Following the same motions, Midir raised his right hand and swiped down.

He was rewarded with five white dots containing various symbols, a gear, one silhouette of a person, two silhouettes of two people and two boxes, and then the symbol of a marker on a map. Each of them perfectly explaining just from a visual glance what each would likely be about.

Midir then began to fiddle about with the menu as he continued walking, starting with the Personal tab where his equipment, items and skills were located.

As of now, he essentially had a blank slate as a 'beginning player'. His skills were currently zero, his equipment was a set of armor called 'Beginner's Armor' and the sword that was currently belted to his back, which he would later move it down to his belt instead, was simply named 'Starter Sword'. There was even a 'Respec' token that the description on it detailed that it was useable to reset any skills and allowed the player to choose a different skill.

After checking around and seeing that everything in the Personal tab was as it seemed to be, Midir moved down to the gear symbol, the 'Settings'. It was there did he start fiddling around the most. He noticed the 'Help' and quickly went through it, learning how to just about anything in the game.

It didn't completely surprise Midir just how deeply complicated the game mechanics were. Considering this was a Full Dive game where the player is the character and doing the things that characters did, including fighting and enhancing their equipment. Though it did seem that learning everything from the 'Help' tab was likely as overwhelming as many dungeon-crawler games were. There were even advices and hints that it dropped occasionally about going to a shopkeeper and asking for a 'handbook' which was given freely.

Midir heard a loud squeal before hearing something impact another something, or rather someone, as the impact was followed with a loud cry of pain.

He looked up to find himself clear outside of the town and in a grassy field surrounded by large dark-grey boars with red, glowing eyes. One particular boar was staring at a squirming on the ground, and seemingly in pain player with red hair tied down with a bandana while another player, this time with black hair and blue shirt was watching nearby.

The boar's interest in the still writhing in pain player died off as it began to wander about and away a little as the player who was standing commented wryly, "You're overreacting, Klein. You're not supposed to feel any pain."

Midir tilted his head a little, slightly confused as while he was able to understand what the player said, which happened to be traditional Japanese, the system automatically translated it as well.

The downed player quickly realized this and gave a simple "Oh."

_'Is this just one big server?'_ Midir pondered, _'What kind of power is Kayaba using just to keep it running for everyone around the world?'_

"I just told you," The other repeated, "Your initial motion input is the most important."

"Yeah, I know." The red-haired complained, "But the dumb boar keeps moving around."

Midir was simply left clueless. Initial Motion Input?

The black-haired player began to explain, kneeling down and picking up a small pebble, "Well, you have to start the motion correctly and then activate the sword skill."

And before Midir's eyes, the player cocked his arm back, aimed at the boar before the pebble began to glow, and with a hard throw impacted perfectly on the boar's backside, launching it off of its' back feet completely while giving a very loud squeal.

Naturally, the pig was _pissed_ at that point as it turned around and started to charge down the black-haired as he said casually, "Once you do that, the system takes care of the aiming."

As the boar charged and went clear past the black-haired player before turning around and being stopped by the man blocking both tusks and holding the pig at bay with just the flat of his sword, the player continued, "I think the best I can explain it is, just build up the attack a little, and when you feel the skill activate, just let it go."

Klein mumbled to himself a little before getting into the weirdest stance Midir had seen anyone do with a curved sword. He widened his stance a little and hoisted the sword over his shoulder before seeing the sword glow yellow.

After that, the black-haired kicked the boar over to the other's way and after a lunging thrust that made Midir doubt yet again how good or accurate that ever was, the red-hair player landed a slash against the boar's side, and a small bar that previously showed yellow diminished into red and the boar exploded into shards.

Midir's eyes widened a little at the display and incidental lesson as Klein started celebrating. Turning around and looking at a few nearby boars, he decided to take a shot at it as well.

He walked up to one of the closer boars, unsheathing his sword and holding it at a classical two-handed grip and waited to see if he had the boar's attention.

Seeing he didn't get its attention, Midir went into a charge, raising the sword point aimed at the boar. Once he was in range, he cocked his sword back for a brutal slice across the boar's side and just as he was about to bring the sword down he felt a high pitched powering up whine and a _strong_ resistance that stopped him from brining the sword down for a solid second.

After that second, the sword flew down with little action coming from Midir's part and gave a long, clean slice from the boar's backside all the way to its face.

When Midir heard the same sound of the boar exploding into shards, he tried to move but found himself immobile for two seemingly long seconds. And it was only after they passed was he able to move again.

"Oh? A critical hit on a Sword Skill? That's a lucky sight." Midir heard the familiar call and saw that both Klein and the black-haired player had stopped nearby and watched him at work.

"Critical hit with the Skill?" Midir asked, slightly confused.

The black-haired nodded, "Almost all the Sword Skills and techniques have a smaller chance of getting enormous bonus damage than normal attacks. They're mostly noticed by the 'splash' effects." He gave a small shrug, "The chances can be increased, but it takes some serious grinding."

"So a different take on the usual critical hit chance, hm?" Klein half-mumbled to himself.

While he pondered and hummed to himself, the black-haired asked, "Is this your first Full Dive as well?"

Midir nodded, "Heard about this game and finally had the chance to see what all the noise was about. Word about S.A.O. spread pretty far and wide."

"Well," The black-haired commented, "Since I'm still running a crash course for Klein over here, I suppose I can throw some help to you if you'd like." He then gave a teasing laugh, "You certainly fished out one lesson from me."

Midir gave a chuckle and a shrug, "Why not?" Getting a free and quick rundown on how the game worked couldn't hurt in the slightest, and as far as he was aware he still had a good hour and a half judging by the clock just above him.

The black-haired decided to introduce himself first, "I'm Kirito, this is Klein."

"Midir. Klein, we learned already after seeing him get body checked by an oversized pig." Klein quickly gave a low pout with that being thrown over his head.

However, Klein quickly bounced back and asked, "Wait, 'Midir'? You mean like 'Darkeater Midir?"

"Oh good, someone still remembers Dark Souls." Midir replied, raising his eyebrows in a mocking tone.

"Well yeah!" The red-haired rubbed his nose a little, "it's the best hardcore series around! Was one of my first hardcore games I tried, well after playing the first one."

"You two going to keep geeking, or you still wanna learn about the game?" Kirito interrupted with a half-smile.

"Oh definitely!" Klein declared.

"Just let us check the armor shops in case they have any cosplaying armors, preferably the Orinstein armor." Midir added dryly, gaining a few chuckles.

=(-)=(+)=

AN: Had to pull this one because a pretty significant part went missing somehow.


	4. Chapter 4

=(+)=(-)=

The three players had spent a little over the hour and a half going over some of the functions in the game. There had been a few times that Midir saw the red dot blink, but he had held it off by simply saying quietly, "Just hold on a little longer."

Despite how Midir had been uninterested at first with S.A.O, he could actually see the charm in it. It was exciting, having to use medieval weaponry and fighting with them, feeling the weapons clash or dig in, and feeling the response of them as well.

During a few practices, Midir had demonstrated several techniques that didn't use the Sword Skills in the slightest yet were still effective, which surprised both Kirito and Klein to no end. In one example, Midir simply let one boar charge in at him with his sword pointed down before pivoting it up with the quick leverage of his second hand, making the boar impale itself from tip to guard and its health dropped to zero with one low, pained squeal.

When asked about it, Midir replied that he had taken interest in medieval weaponry, finding several classes and schools that taught actual useage about them and even went to tournements where people dressed in real armor and battled it out in a narrow arena with real tempered steel weaponry.

Though after hearing how physically demanding they were, it turned Kirito off a little, saying he wasn't exactly fit for full on metal armor and getting hit with them as well, which Midir admitted in sympathy just how demanding it really was. Klein in the meanwhile had his interest piqued and asked if Midir could point him to a few classes, even if it was across the planet.

"You can easily find where there's some classes being held online, though don't be surprised if they're mostly held in the U.S or around Europe." Midir answered, before pausing and pointing, "Watch your left, Klein."

They continued to grind out a little longer before the virtual sun started to appear in the horizon, signifying evening time, and a good signal to stop playing. Instead of quickly saying goodbye and logging off, the three decided to pause a little to watch the sunset before going.

Klein, who sat down with his arms behind him, decided to break the silence commenting, "I still can't believe all this is happening. No matter how much I'm staring at all this, it's hard to tell that I'm in a game. The guy who made this is a freaking genius."

"A damn miracle is what it is," Midir putted in, making Klein give a noise of confusion, "Three years ago, people were still struggling with a simple VR headset and two controllers just to make popular games work. And now we're already at the level of having a full body VR where we're living and breathing inside a game in that span? Its more like an impossible dream."

"Ah, yeah. Now that you put it that way." Klein grinned, "Well I'm just glad I was born in this era."

"Honestly, I think you two are making a big deal out of everything." Kirito half-heartedly complained.

Midir gave a low, disbelieving hum, "Maybe its not to you, but technology doesn't just jump like that. Still, its our first Full Dive."

"So it's your first NerveGear game, then?"

Klein was the first to answer, "More like I just rushed out there, bought the hardware and crashed back home just to play S.A.O. I was lucky enough to get one of the ten thousand copies."

He then gave a small wave with one of his hands at Kirito, "But hey, you're even luckier! You got to play the Beta! Only a thousand got that chance!"

Midir gave a silent 'ahh', "That explains why you know so much." He shifted around a little before sitting cross-legged, quickly coming up with a convincing lie, "Well for us, we were lucky to swipe the last copy of S.A.O over in the U.S. Once we realized it needed the NerveGear, we just ran out and bought it. So sort of the same way Klein got his."

It was then that Klein asked, "How far did you get in the Beta? Surely you guys must've gotten pretty high up there."

Kirito only scratched the back of his neck and shook his head, "I only got up to the eighth floor in those two months." He raised his head back to the sun and said with a grin, "But I think I'll get back up there in half the time, now."

"Well aren't you hyped?" Klein teased.

"Yeah, you could say that." Kirito admitted while he unsheathed his sword and held it out in front of him, "During the beta testing, S.A.O was all I could even think about. I had to restrain myself from not staying on all day and all night. Here, a sword could take you anywhere you'd want to go. And even though I know its just a virtual world, it still makes me feel more alive than anything in the world."

Midir gave a small chuckle, "Just remember where the line between reality and fantasy is at." Once again, the other two looked at him as he explained, "We've seen a lot of people not realize it and end up living worse off, ridicule, isolation, persecution. It's not a pretty life to follow."

The three fell into a bemused silence before Kirito sheathed his sword and asked, "Welp, you two up for another hunt?"

"Oh hell yeah!" Klein declared, getting up onto his knees before hesitating, "But uhh ..." He placed his arms over his stomach just in time for a low grumble resounded from him, "I'm starving, so I gotta log out."

"Ah yeah, and the food in this game just fools you into thinking you're not hungry." Kirito chuckled.

"Heh, its why I ordered some hot pizza to arrive around 5:30!" Klein bragged.

"Mr. Prepared over here, ladies and gentlemen." Midir grinned.

"Loud and proud!" Klein declared as he got up, "Well, I'll log off and come back once I'm done eating. How bout you, 'Darkeater'?"

Midir chuckled, "Sadly, we have to log off too. It's late over here and pretty sure a certain little brother in the family wants a shot at this game."

Kirito started looking away and frowned, "I see ..."

"Ah, shame." Klein said with a wave of his hand, "Although I'm going to meet up later with some people I met and gotten to know from another game. Either of you two up to friending them and maybe have a get-together? Maybe a team hunt?"

Kirito just looked down and didn't say a word while Midir gave a small shrug, "Why not? Things are always better with a few friends."

"Sweet! Lemmie give you their names!" Klein gave a small cheer before asking, "What about you, Kirito?"

The beta-tester still hadn't said a word, which Klein didn't take too hard, "Well if you're not up for that, it's okay. I can always introduce you to them another time!" With that, he looked over to Midir and started helping him get to the 'Friend's List' and add in the names.

Once it was over, Kirito seemed to have gotten over his uncomfortable silence and mumbled, "Sorry, Klein."

"Nah!" Klein waved it off, "To be honest, I'd say the both of us should be thankful. You helped out where we'd be freaking out over for a few days." He came over to the beta-tester and gave a small swat on his arm, "I'll be sure to repay you for it though ..." He paused to consider what was the best way to say it, "Eh, virtually, so to speak."

Midir simply looked on as the two continued talking before seeing the red dot blink much longer than just a quick second. He gave a low grouse and said to himself, "Fine, fine, we're leaving." And swiped down the menu to log out.

Only to have a slight problem...

"Krito?" Midir asked loudly, getting both of the players attention, "Where's the logout?"

"Wait what?" Klein asked, "Its down in the settings, right?" He brought up the menu as well only to find the same problem, "... Huh?"

Kirito looked between the two players and brought his own menu, "It should be there." He mumbled before seeing the same problem, "What?"

"Yeah, its not there." Midir reported.

Klein gave a soft chuckle, though anxiety started to creep into his voice, "Maybe this is just a bug, it's the first day the game's out of beta afterall. Heh, I'm sure the server people are freaking out already!"

Midir looked up at the time and said, "You probably should be freaking out too, Klein. It's 5:25."

Klein looked up at where the time was displayed for him and after a full second of realizing what time it was, he immediately freaked out and screamed in dispair, "**My teriaki and mayo pizza and ginger ale**!"

"Just call the GM, Klein." Kirito nearly deadpanned.

"Already did that," Midir said, pointing down at a small window that held the image of an old man in a red, hooded robe, "He's not answering."

Klein scratched his chin as he asked, "No other way of logging out, is there?"

Kirito considered it for a moment and shook his head, "No, it has to be through the menu."

"Can't someone just rip the headset?" Midir asked, giving his two bits.

"A wise idea, but not really a good one." Kirito shook his head again, "Just removing the headset is alright, and it won't hurt you at all. But ripping the NerveGear off suddenly? Doing that can cause serious mental damage. One beta-player had that happen and I later heard he had to go to a therapist and a mental recovery ward, the sudden return from S.A.O was too much of a shock."

"And who told you that?" Midir questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"From the S.A.O forums, it was discussed and announced what happened, someone from his family reported what happened."

"Eeeiiie." Klein winced, "Well, maybe not that way, then ..." He started dancing about in various poses while chanting just about every word that fit the definition of logging out.

Kirito looked down and frowned, "There wasn't even any emergency logout method in the manual. We can't even move our real bodies, either. The NerveGear intercepts all the signals from your brain down here." He pointed to the base of his skull behind his ears, right where it would meet the spine."

"So we'll just wait," Midir decided as if it answered their problem, "We'll just have to wait for either the GM to fix this or for someone to remove the NerveGear."

"I live by myself though ..." Klein muttered just before a loud and deep toll of a bell resounded across the first floor, gaining the three players attention.

Before any of them could say a word, a bright flash errupted from each of the players, blinding them until they found themselves back at the town, exactly where every player joined the game from with the bell tower ringing away.

Midir looked around and watched as more players were teleported from wherever they were, rifed with confusion as to what was happening and why they were forcebly teleported.

Soon after, the bell stopped tolling and fell silent. However a new sound took dominance as a red flashing hexagon with the word 'WARNING' on it appeared high above the mosque before it began to spread and covered the entire sky with more hexagons either saying the same word or 'System Announcement'.

After a flashy display of what looked like red wax dripping down and forming what appeared to be a GM, Midir had the sneaking suspicion that this wasn't just a flashy ceremony of saying 'Welcome to the Game'.

The GM widened his arms out and declared loudly, "Players of Sword Art Online, I welcome you to my world."

''My world'? So Kayaba decided to show up?' Midir pondered as the now identified GM answered his question completly by introducing himself by name, Kayaba Akihiko.

"I shall assume that you all have noticed that a vital option in the main menu is missing. The 'log-out button' to be specific. I can assure you that this is not a game malfunction."

Midir narrowed his eyes, quickly connecting the dots and lines at what was happening.

"I repeat, this is not a bug in the system. It is a feature." Kayaba continued, "You are unable to log yourselves out of this game, and no one outside of Sword Art Online will be able to remove or shut down your NerveGear. Any attempt in doing so will result in a transmitter inside the NerveGear to activate and discharge a powerful microwave radiation into your skull, effectively destroying your brain, and ending your life."

Midir heard many of the players either scoffing or complaining about that being stated, some trying to leave but finding themselves unable to do so. He on the other hand considered and recalled back when he first saw the NerveGear.

It certainly was bulky, encompassing the entire human head. He did note that most of the weight was around the back, and that the bottom-most part of the helmet swung on a hinge. From this hinge, the rest of the helmet came down on the human head to encompass it.

If what Kayaba said was true, then the microwave transmitters would have to be around in the bottom-most part. And they had to be particularly powerful too, likely around the same energy output as a mid to high level microwave.

The perfect 'dead-man's switch' if anything.

It didn't help that he noticed the NerveGear had an internal battery, taking away any chance that unplugging the thing, and the batteries weren't noticeably located anywhere, likely _inside_ the helmet.

"... What of an EMP?" Midir considered. It wasn't far off to consider that militaries around the world could have some in various, but too lethal, degrees. But still, these things could be easily made and even focused to a point where it may very well bypass any shielding that the NerveGear might have.

However … That may end up killing the hostage instead of the transmitters.

He hadn't heard if the governments or militaries disassembled a NerveGear to find out how it ticked. But if they had before people started grabbing them mindlessly, surely they would've discovered something that the NerveGear was vulnerable to that would break people out before the transmitters would've tripped.

But _still_, why go to all this trouble? Just to prove it could happen?

"Unfortunately, the friends and family members of around two hundred and thirteen players have attempted to remove the NerveGear, regardless of the warnings. Thus, these players have both 'died' in Aincrad, and in the real world."

_'He seriously thought no one would challenge that?'_ Midir stared at Kayaba's avatar in dull surprise, _'Even I would've had some expectation that there'd be at least a dozen who wouldn't even see the warning_ ..._'_

Still continuing and clearly was prepared to give what could likely be an hour long speech, Kayaba went on as images and pictures of news and media that had already written and shown stories of what had happened appeared and started flying about in the arena, "As of now, the international media around the world are reporting and having full coverage on everything, and the many deaths that followed. You may safely assume that any chances of your NerveGear being removed will not likely happen."

Midir looked at one passing video of a sobbing girl with her mother hugging her tightly as Kayaba added, "In all likelihood, this should bring you comfort and help you relax and concentrate more upon the game."

Midir just turned his attention to the GM avatar and just muttered a flat, "_What_?" _That's it?_ All the trouble and hostage taking and he just wants to force people to play his game?

It appeared that some of the people around Midir had the same thought and reaction to this, as some started to grumble or stare at the GM avatar, insulted or in disbelief that was all Kayaba wanted.

But wait, there was more, "However, I do want to inform you of this, and it is important. There is no longer any way to respawn or revive anyone in this game. The moment your HP reaches zero, your avatar is permanently erased. And at the same time, the NerveGear will activate and destroy your brain, killing you in real life."

_This_ stunned almost everyone into silence and just stared blankly at the GM, "However, there is a way and a goal to set yourselves free from this game, which is to clear Sword Art Online," Kayaba said while opening a map that enlarged itself to where everyone could easily see it, "As of now, you are currently on the first floor, the lowest level of Aincrad. By making your way through each dungeon and defeating each Floor Boss, you advanced to the next floor until the One-Hundredth floor, and once the final boss is slain, you will clear the game and everyone then will be freed to leave the game."

That brought everyone out of their reveries and started speaking to each other in either disbelief or confusion. Even Midir could hear a familiar voice call out, "Not even the Beta-Testers made it that high!"

_'Which means its not just a team effort, but it's an endurance challenge.__'_ Midir considered. He didn't entirely know how many players there currently were, but unless there was around twenty thousand, it was a slim and difficult chance even if everyone pushed forwards like an unrelenting wave.

It seemed that Kayaba was about to finish his spiel, as he said, "Finally, I have a gift for each and one of you, and you can see it for yourself in your Item Storage. If you please, I would like for you to see it for yourselves."

Midir looked around as everyone began, rather obediently, opening their menus and looking through the aforementioned Item Storage. And as he saw from the closest player to him, a girl just under his height, it was a simple mirror that was a shy bigger than her hands.

After a few seconds of seeing nothing happening, Midir brought his own given mirror out and inspected it, some of his own reflection catching in the mirrors reflective surface.

Not a moment later, he saw a brilliant flash of light erupting from somewhere in the large crowd before the same flashes began to appear and envelop every player around Midir before he was enveloped himself in the same light.

Soon after the light show died down and as Midir quickly looked around, he noticed one stark difference. Everyone now looked _completely_ different. Instead of the typical height of either six or five foot, or even the occasional four foot in the preferences of the players around Midir, everyone was now a wildly different height.

On top of that, their faces, appearances, and most striking was the change in _gender_ for some of the players. Some of the players _immediately_ took exception at realizing their partners weren't what they said or thought they were.

The loudest, and most oddest, complaint he had ever heard of in any predicament was two kids yelling how one wasn't a girl and the other wasn't seventeen.

Midir looked back down at the mirror that was still in his hands and noticed that his entire appearance was exactly the same as he was outside of the game, even the same oily, blonde hair that tracked down the sides of his head.

Hearing again the familiar voices that he had been paired up with an hour before, he glanced around until he spotted the familiar outfits of Klein and Kirito, on two very different looking teens.

Midir quickly made his way, bumping and gently pushing aside everyone around before calling out, "Hey! Klein! Kirito!"

Out of familiarity with both names and the voice that had called them, both teens turned and saw Midir step out of the crowd and stopped before them.

Klein was the first to comment after staring at Midir for a few moments, "... Damn, the long hair and sideburns look better on you than it did for me."

Midir responded by giving a bewildered glare at Klein as Kirito started to realize what was going on, "The scanners … The NerveGear traces your face with the high-density sensors, that's how our faces changed to what we look like in real life … But what about our height and body shape?"

"The calibrations." Midir answered, getting his attention, "When you first start using the headset, it had you feel all over your body."

"Yeah that," Klein started, before hesitating and asking, "But why? Why's this all happening?"

"Neither of you catch on to what he said?" Midir pointed out, "He said it quite clearly that he has us trapped here, we have the potential to die here, and the only way out is to win the game. That's what he wanted, its _all_ he wanted: To play his game from start to finish."

"Many of you must be wondering 'Why? Why did Kayaba Akihiko, the developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear take so many hostages and hold them all here?" Kayaba began again, this time sounding like someone reciting off speech, "What I have aimed to do has already been accomplished. And I have created my own world where I can observe and admire the actions and efforts of everything in it. _That_ is why I made Sword Art Online."

Kirito seemed to take serious offense at that all the while Midir started losing more of his tolerance at Kayaba's shenanigans. All in all, the speech could have been summed up to simply say: Kayaba was taking control of the game; He wanted everyone to give actual effort in clearing the game while he watched and not just have it as a eventual goal; And he had these specific incentives to push everyone to accomplish it faster.

So he wasn't a very patient man to wait around for just _somebody_ to ascend to the last floor and had a case of 'God Am I', he could've just thrown different incentives or even a 'New Game+' where the death there would've meant the lost of both character and all the items the player collected, as well as all that progress. Much less mess, and it'd give everyone a sense of some serious but amazingly fun endgame.

"This ends the tutorial and opening ceremony for the official Sword Art Online launch!" Kayaba declared loudly, "Players, I wish each and every one of you the best of luck."

And with that, the GM avatar started to glitch and dissipate into dust, but not before a small mirror flew out of the crowd and went perfectly through where the face of the GM would be, which startled Klein and Kirito a little bit when they noticed Midir recover from his rather herculean throw.

However, it didn't affect the avatar nor did it change much as it disappeared back behind the red hexagon ceiling above before it too disappeared, leaving the arena of players simply staring in silence, either unsure what to make of what just occurred to them or the fact of what did happen hadn't registered in their minds completely.

It was only when the scream of a girl did it stir the entire crowd of players into reacting with panic, fear, and anger.

=(+)=(-)=

AN: And that'd be the last of my steam, I'll probably keep up with this and try to keep it going, though don't be surprised if that takes awhile.

No I'm not going to try and go full-on copypaste with the canon plot, I'm not that bland and its lazy af. Yes there'll be times where things do cross into canonic events, and if and when they happen, it'll be because there's a lot of 'noise' happening and Midir loves taking a peek at what's making all that racket, but most of the POV will be with Midir.


	5. Chapter 5

Quick AN over here, forgot to throw the Copyright claim before starting all this.

I do not own S.A.O, nor any of its characters except for those I had made earlier on.

=(+)=(-)=

Kayaba couldn't help but feel somewhat vexed at recalling that one player's first reaction not soon after he finished his speech. He could understand, and as he saw from the reactions from the rest of the players, that there would be those angry that they were now ripped away from important business meetings and other events.

However that one player seemed more annoyed rather than angry or panicked. That the fact that he was now in a world where death is much more common than it was in the real world didn't seem to faze him.

That and he had a scary good arm, Kayaba considered as he placed a 'hand' over his 'face', hurling a small mirror that far out and having it go right through where his face would've been hit was no simple feat, even in his virtual world with all the physics and aerodynamics taken into calculation and consideration.

The creator of S.A.O. frowned as he looked over the data scrolling across numerous holographic screens around him, pondering to himself about the player's reaction as well as the fact that the government had hired this 'Midir' to take a quick look around.

He adjusted the mob spawn rate just a little as he saw the Cardinal System report of another series of blocked hack attempts. Kayaba sighed and started to focus on what would be the next wave of hacking, some of them had been fiendishly creative and had taken a great deal of effort with both himself and the Cardinal System to stop them from getting anywhere as soon as possible.

In all honesty, it was understandable the governments around the world would get curious or cautious. Some of them were probably even expecting something to trip or trigger some code in the game that would take players hostage or deal physical or mental changes to them.

Kayaba gave a brief look over the small program that was still active and connected to the player 'Midir'.

It was little more but a simple playback recording program, with the ability of telling the player that there was someone outside watching. And during the passage of a week, both the player and whoever was behind the scenes had found a way to converse with each other. Midir would tell or ask something to himself, usually in an undertone when around other players, and the people on the outside would message back via Morse Code.

Mostly the conversation had been about any updates or any progress of trying to see into S.A.O. through other players' eyes or any progress in cracking the NerveGear and busting anyone out. In fact the very first thing that 'Midir' asked was if they had acquired a spare NerveGear and had taken it apart to see how it ticked, getting an answer that they were able to off of one of the dead players and discovered what 'Midir' feared, that the batteries were inside the helmet and any attempt in cutting into the helmets would trigger the transmitters regardless of haste or slow precision.

Leaving any chance of physical tamperment of working out the window.

Kayaba turned his attention back to fighting off the wave of hacking attempts, which appeared to be a much more concentrated and team effort, spreading out into different areas and trying to stretch the Creator and the Cardinal System enough to let something slip through.

The small program was a little annoying and occasionally easily assumed as a successful hack, it did little to nothing other than just establish a limited communicating connection, and it wouldn't affect either the player or the game itself. Thus, Kayaba ignored it and resolved to deal with both the connection and the player at a later time.

=(-)=(-)=

Midir looked over his inventory after the 'Quest Complete!' screen popped up and rewarded him with both a small bag of Cor, or what S.A.O. considered as currency, a significant batch of experience points, and the weapon he had been hunting for, the Anneal Blade.

All the hints and advices the tutorial had bombarded him with getting himself a guidebook from the shopkeepers did have some merit of investigating, as when he realized the book detailed many of the quests, enemies and even the floor bosses.

Once reading about the Anneal Blade and the quest revolving about it, Midir had made the journey and was just able to take the quest as it finished a significantly long cooldown and got out of the cottage before several other players were seen running for it as well.

From then on, he constantly kept an eye and referenced almost everything to the book, checking for quests and the cooldown timers they had to allow repeatability, skills that could be earned with little cost his skill slots, as well as training up the skills he already had equipped.

After he left behind the little cottage and walked out of Horunka, one of the three towns and villages that were located on the First Floor of Aincrad, he noticed a flashing red dot a little to his right and saw it had the symbol of an envelope.

Figuring it was a private message, Midir tapped the symbol and saw a small message from Kirito that followed:

====From: Kirito  
==To: Midir  
=Subject: 1st Floor Boss  
/Hey, we're having a meeting\  
|about the 1st Floor Boss and|  
|how to fight it over in|  
|Tollbana Town, I figured you|  
\might be interested in it./

Midir gave a soft huff as he typed a reply that he was going to show up there and what time was it starting. The meetings had started about two weeks after the game began, when the entrance of the Floor Labyrinth was discovered. This gave some inspiration that it was possible, though Midir preferred that the news of its discovery came sooner, before the significant drop of lives began.

He had taken time to rest at the Town of Beginnings, resting at the Monument of Life and watching as a large, stone tablet that listed every name of every player in the game started crossing off around two thousand of them, some getting crossed at a faster rate.

It didn't help that the deaths were listed at what time, what location and how the players died.

What really set things off was the lucky player who got to be the first to die.

_Suicide._ Just three hours after Kayaba's little spiel. 'Falling in midair' the Monument of Life tried to explain away, as if it was just something to wave off, but every player knew better and there was nothing that would change that.

The only thing that didn't damage everyone's spirits more was that the suicide wasn't out of despair, it was more out of a failed theory. The player had the idea that by the structure of the NerveGear, a person getting cut from the system would automatically regain consciousness.

Sad to say it didn't work. Shortly after he had thrown himself off of Aincrad's territory and into the cloudly, seemingly endless abyss, his name 'Aavin' was crossed off and listed the time and method of death.

Some of the players that were there reported that they heard him scream in pain or agony as he fell, though others didn't confirm or deny it.

Then began the string of deaths that capped out at two thousand. How the game worked; How the Sword Skills worked; How to tell when to press the attack and when to cool their jets or getting out and beat a fighting retreat; Even the simple matter of remembering they had Sword Skills that could've saved their lives.

People were dying left and right from either idiocy, arrogance, overconfidence, panic and the misfortune of choosing either the wrong 'friend' or getting ambushed or chased down.

Midir noticed early on that Sword Skills were usually stronger than normally attacking without activating anything. Those that just swung their weapons around with little care had their attack come slowly and clunky, and even those that did hit did lesser damage than they would have from a Sword Skill. However, that was limited by having to know the skills and 'learning' the skills through either consistent grinding or accomplishing a specific task that the guidebook said, and didn't mention.

This made Sword Skills a _completely_ vital necessity.

Of course those who knew how to handle weaponry as they did in the real world noticed there was a significant change in damage and speed. Rather than wobbling a sword about, using it in a two handed or a one handed and shield fashion and properly guarding and counterattacking brought a much better chance of dealing almost equal damage as one would've done so with a Sword Skill.

Unfortunately, this required effort and teaching classes, two things that many players shied away from as they could skip all that effort and noise and just use Sword Skills, completely entrusting the system to fight and move their bodies for them, rather than experience and practice.

In the meanwhile, Midir also noticed how the game was switching and changing, sometimes the rewarding Col would be different than usual, the 'EXP' would either increase or drastically decrease. Some quests didn't activate for some players while a new quest appeared out of nowhere that gave various Col and EXP.

Still, despite all this people were learning and putting effort into adapting and trying to survive the First Floor. That much could be deduced once the rate of deaths slowed to a crawl, and in nearly two months of time, two thousand were dead. But no one had yet cleared the First Floor.

Already the depression, gloom and despair began settling in the shadows of the surviving Players' minds, slowly becoming ever-present, pressing inward upon them, poisoning the players with fear and doubt with every step and moment before any battle. Its what brought the numbers of players, who were still determined to prove they could win the game and clear Aincrad, from five thousand strong to a mere two hundred and steadily declining.

_'Even if we adapt and start learning to survive,'_ Midir pondered thoughtfully, _'It__ still doesn't change the result that we are losing the will to move and fight on.__ Lose too much, and the entire point of clearing Aincrad will be lost and thrown aside.'_

=(-)=(+)=


	6. Chapter 6

=(+)=(-)=

Alright, everyone! Let's get started!" Diavel, a blue long-haired player wearing a bronze set of armor with a long arming sword strapped to his side, called loudly to a gathered smattering of around forty players who sat down in an amphitheater as Midir made his way from the top level and sat down to see everyone from below.

The gathering quieted down as Diavel began, "First of all, thank you all for coming! My name is Diavel," He then placed a fist over his chest plate and declared almost comically, "And I am a Knight!"

This was met with laughter and chuckles as a few players called out how there wasn't a title or a job system. While one player began to wonder loudly if this was just a joke, Diavel chuckled as well before waving his hands, "Alright, alright everyone. Let's get a little serious about this."

Midir couldn't help but chuckle at how the meeting was started. It did some good to throw humor out there to break the ice and provide some relief to the players, as the doom and gloom still held over everyone.

Diavel's expression swiftly fell into seriousness, "Just today, our party had traveled through the Floor Labyrinth and we have discovered the boss room at the top of the tower."

This garnered everyone's attention greatly. During the past two months, people had ran through the labyrinth and either came back out heavily exhausted and low on health or never came back. During that time the boss room was never located, even when Midir took his chances going in alone.

"Everyone," Diavel announced loudly, gaining passion in his voice, "this is _the_ perfect chance to tell everyone here on the First Floor that there is a Floor Boss. And that this death game is not unwinnable, that we have a chance of getting out of this place!" He placed his fist back over his chest and ranted further, "Each and every one of us here in this meeting are the most capable players around, and thus this is our duty to get to the Floor Boss, kill the damn thing and tell Akihiko that we're not settling down quietly!"

The speech had already roused the gathering into cheering, easily taking in Diavel's words as the 'Knight' calmed down and began again, "Excellent! Now then, we need to start planning on killing this boss. First off! We'll need to split into parties of six!"

Midir started looking around, seeing who was lacking a member as Diavel began explaining why having teams of six would've been better than just one big party. He started traveling down and asked one of the closest, "Hey. Need one more?"

The player in the middle, a lavender-haired, waved his hand in sympathy, "Nah, sorry man, just grabbed the last player."  
He gave a shrug and began wandering around to the other groups, skipping over those that he could see six gathered up already.

Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone around him already gathered six people, many of whom were friends, whether made in the game or out in real life. It wasn't until he heard a familiar voice call out his name, making him turn and see Kirito next to a hooded girl.

As Midir came over, he asked with a small grin, "Been quite a while, Kirito. Got room for one more?"

"Sure, everyone else seems to know each other enough." Kirito answered, pulling the main menu down and sending a party invite, which Midir quickly accepted.

Back when the game 'officially' started, Kirito had pulled both Klein and Midir out of the arena, after seeing the barriers visibly disappear.

He had briefly explained that once all the other players calmed down and started to venture out, the fields around the Town of Beginnings would get picked completely clean before spreading out for both experience, new weaponry and Col. He had offered the two a chance to run to a nearby town, where they'd have a more significant chance at gaining everything to quickly level up and become considerably stronger early on.

Midir had asked if it was even possible, having three player run out and accomplishing this, which made Kirito pause and hesitate. It may have been possible, but it would nevertheless draw competition between the three, likely struggling more than they would need to just to accomplish whatever Kirito believed could be done.

It wasn't until Klein said that he couldn't leave his buddies behind in that mass, friends of his he made in a different game and they all joined to conquer S.A.O. together as they did in the earlier mentioned game.

Having to deal with more than three would've drastically reduced and rendered Kirito's plan moot, which Kirito had reluctantly argued that he couldn't grab any more than Klein or Midir.

Midir didn't have as much of a problem, he came alone and the only 'friends' he had was the two that was with him at that time.

And so, soon after agreeing to see each other again and to promise not to get themselves killed, they departed the Town and made headway straight for Horunka Village.  
"Hold up!" A voice called out from above, snapping Midir out of his thoughts as he hadn't been paying attention to what Diavel was saying.

A short man with sienna, spiked hair started running and jumping down the amphitheater before giving a last leap onto the bottom floor. Skidding to a stop, he rudely declared, "Name's Kibaou and I've got somethin' t' say before we get anywhere else!"

The man stomped forwards toward the crowd and ranted, "Some of us here need to start apologizing, since they're the ones responsible for all the deaths from the last two months!"

_'Aha.'_ Midir groused, recognizing what the short-stock was making a fuss about.

It was true, in a certain point of view. When the game 'started' it wasn't just Kirito and Midir who quickly fled the Town of Beginnings. During the times that Midir had gone off alone or teamed up with Kirito, they had encountered a few Beta Testers here and there, either running away from a finished quest or in a mad dash to complete it as soon as possible, or just arrived in time to accept the same quest they were doing as well.

As much as Midir would've preferred the Beta Testers helped each other and gave some advice to help boost everyone's strengths quickly, in the heat and adrenaline of realizing that if you didn't become strong enough you would easily die at any given time, that was little more but a fantastic dream.

As a result, most encounters with the other Beta Testers quickly turned a quick quest into a lethal race. The only rare few times teamwork happened was if a difficult monster was blocking the way and clearly looking for trouble.

"Kibaou-san," Diavel started cautiously, "You're talking about the Beta Testers, correct?"

"_Damn straight I am!_" Kibaou nearly shouted, "The moment this dumbass game started, those Betas up and left us for dead. They took all the good hunting spots, they _stole_ the easier quests, and the good items that could've helped us all for themselves! After that, they disappeared, ignoring us completely!"

Midir couldn't help but notice just how _political_ that sounded, disregarding the simpler terms this man was spouting. It was clearly meant for fearmongering and rousing a mob to start following him to find and hunt down, possibly even murder, any Beta Testers that either they or Kibaou suspected or found out.

Kibaou gritted his teeth and laid out his last card, "And I can without a doubt bet that there's a Beta in here with us right now!" He threw his arm out and pointed at one part of the crowd, letting anger and passion seep into his voice, "That bastard should be coming down here, get down on their knees and _beg_ for forgiveness!" He then pointed his other arm out to a different part of the crowd, "And then! They should be giving up all their items and money and anything else they've stolen!"

He finished out his tirade by crossing his arms and widening his stance a little, calling out, "Otherwise, there is _absolutely_ no reason we should be trusting them as party members! If they don't trust us at all, then neither should we!"

Midir had it up to his head with the man's idiotic diatribe. Just before Diavel could intervene, and before the gathering of players could start looking around each other in suspicion, Midir called out, "_Alright._"

This promptly got everyone's attention on him as he loudly struck his hands on the stone seating and got up, showing a clearly unamused expression as he added, "You want to start something, _boy_? Fine."

Everyone's eyes followed him as he slowly walked down to the bottom floor of the amphitheater and introduced himself, "Our name is Midir, and we're going to start with this: Who in _God's name_ do you think you are, Kibaou?"

Kibaou flinched in anger, however didn't immediately defend himself as Midir continued, "You _seriously_ think that raising up a mob and starting a witch hunt is gonna to get us anywhere?"

Midir gave a snort before stating, "If we're just going to start attacking, killing and branding everyone traitors and witches, then save yourselves and whoever you've got outside in the real world the trouble _and jump off_."

The crowd quickly rose up in protest at Midir's words, with them angerly shouting back at him before he turned a little to face the crowd around him and reached behind him, pulling out his ever trusted guidebook, "We're not going to start a shouting match about this, and none of us here are interested in stirring up trouble, so let's start with this instead."

The players around him calmed down enough to listen as he brought the book up and gave it a little shake, "This book right here is a guidebook, incase anyone's wondering. And as far as we've learned from the tutorial when we were fiddling around with the settings before all this, it's free and always available in an unlimited amount from the NPC Item Stores around the floor."

Midir gestured with the book over to Kibaou, "You've got one yourself, right?"

Kibaou gave a curt nod, still angry and offended at Midir earlier suggestion.

"And if we took a look at page one, we'd find a rather curious thing being noted there." Midir looked down, opened the guidebook and recited, "'Official Sword Art Online Guidebook. Data compiled, written, tested and confirmed by the one thousand Beta Testers of Sword Art Online.'"

This stunned the gathering of players as Kibaou's attitude soured, having his argument countered and defeated by an overlooked fact.

Midir turned the rest of the way to face the players, giving his book a small tap with his hand, "And as we said, this was available and everyone could get this information, easy and simple. Even with all the help the Beta Testers could provide, we still lost two thousand people! We didn't lose these players because of misinformation, but because we didn't know just how different S.A.O. is compared to other games and real life. It took us two months to recognize this and learn how to adapt and survive."

Midir pocketed the guidebook away as he added, "None of us came here to point fingers and argue against each other. We all came here because we're trying to learn about the Floor Boss and how to kill it. We'll never get anywhere if we just squabble and turn on each other."

The crowd of players by the time he finished speaking had settled down enough to give some support to Midir's words, though some of them clearly showed they weren't happy at being told to go off themselves.

Kibaou simply grumbled and backed off, finding a seat and sitting down roughly.

Midir turned his attention over to Diavel, giving a slight dip of his head, "If you may?"

Diavel gave a nod, allowing Midir to climb back up to where Kirito and their hooded party member sat ... 'Asuna', as Midir looked up at where the name and health bars of his party members were located.

"Alright, can we get back to the meeting, then?" Midir turned his attention back to Diavel who looked around, sounding relieved that trouble was averted and the matter had been settled.

After seeing most of the players nodding, he began while opening and reading his own guidebook, "With the latest edition of the guidebooks issued just recently, there is contents pertaining to the First Floor Boss. According to the book, the boss is called 'Illfang the Kobold Lord'. He is approximately twenty meters wide and just over two meters in height. He will have minions aiding him called the 'Ruin Kobold Sentinels', and there will be around three to five of them, each of them just standing above average human height and suited in metal armor, carrying mace-typed and polearm-typed weapons. The Sentinels necks are their only weak points while Illfang is armored only on his legs, waist and wrists. Illfang carries an axe and a leather buckler, both appropriated to his size. He has four health bars, and once the last bar turns red, he switches to a curved sword called a Talwar. His attack pattern will also change."

Some of the players shift or mumbled in surprise, as they not only didn't expect the guidebooks' information providers, but just how much detail and effort that the Beta Testers had put into it.

Diavel closed the book and declared, "That's all for the boss and the briefing. For the distribution on loot, the money is divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss will receive the EXP, and anyone getting an item from the fight is theirs to keep. Any objections?" After waiting a moment and receiving nothing from the crowd, he nodded and declared, "Good! We will leave tomorrow at ten in the morning! That'll be all, everyone!"

=(-)=(+)=

AN: I'm using the proper terms of weapons on this, what Diabel/Diavel had wasn't a longsword, they're two-handed weaponry and were called such because they were _longer_ than the usual arming sword, Praise Shadiversity and his Machiculations.

IMO, this is probably why proper research can enchance stories quite well.


	7. Chapter 7

=(+)=(-)=

"Welcome! I'll be with you in a moment!" Lisbeth, a brunette called out from her anvil, having been busy trying to upgrade a two-headed axe that she was using as her current 'training stick'.

She heard footsteps come a little closer but then stopped, indicating that her customer was waiting by the countertop as she set down the 'stick' and unequipped her smithing gloves, which gave a slight boost to her skill.

After giving a quick look over with a nearby mirror, Lisbeth hurried out to the store's front room and said cheerfully, "Welcome to Lisbeth's Smith Shop!"

Her customer of the hour looked up from the display cases of her one-handed swords and said, "Hello, we're here for upgrading a few of our weapons."

Lisbeth tilted her head in confusion with the plural usage and gave a quick over her customer.

He was a blonde, white male, just above Lisbeth's height where if he looked straight ahead, his eyes would be level with where her hair met her scalp. The player had very short sideburns coming down from his hair and connecting to his equally short beard.

The player customer was dressed in what she could only assume was some sort of speed-tank build. He was wearing a scale armor set with what she could recognize was the Anneal Blade, which the player unbuckled and placed on the countertop.

All in all, he seemed like someone who took grinding to a serious level, since scale armor was given to players who reached level 15. Most of the player levels she saw only averaged around 9 or 10.

Recalling how the player wanted to enhance and brought multiple weapons told her either he was being the delivery-boy for his friends, or he was being incredibly cautious over the possibility of losing his weapons, "Well, sir the upgrading cost is one-fifty Cor per upgrade, and it'll cost fifty Cor depending on the material and attributes. Unless you brought them yourself?"

He brought down his main menu and went through his items storage while replying, "We did bring some metal and a few steel ores that we had found."The player then brought up the trade menu to show them to her, "Will these be enough?"

That 'some' and 'few' was a little frugal, if anyone asked Lisbeth. From the trade window, she saw that he had gathered enough to spend three weapons worth of enhancement attempts.

Lisbeth decided to take her previous judgement back, this player had to have been grinding day and night, "Y-yeah, this will be enough," She pressed the 'accept' button before asking, "And t-the weapons you want to enhance?"

The player quickly scrolled through his items storage and proceeded to spawn what she recognized as a small, kite buckler, a Starter Sword, a spear, and a second Anneal Blade.

Lisbeth just dumped her second judgement and simply went with 'this man is insane', as he laid them out in a neat file on the countertop.

Hesitant to find out just what else this player was doing with himself to these, she pushed a finger at each of them to see their stats.

With the first Anneal Blade, it was a +3 with 2S1D or two Sharpness and one Durability, as she learned the abbreviation from her friends and fellow blacksmiths. The second one was completely blank, indicating that either it had been sitting in his inventory for quite some time, or the player just recently got it.

The Starter Sword nearly made her cringe just to look at it. It was maxed out on enhancement attempts and was given a mere 1S1D, either meaning the player tried his hand on blacksmithing himself or a newbie blacksmith handled it.

Lisbeth couldn't help but stare at the player with a dull expression, "Seriously?"

He helplessly shrugged, making her sigh and turn her attention to the buckler and spear, both in which were also blank.

Realizing that she was dealing with a hoarder, she slumped and stated, "I can make enhancements on the t-two Anneal Blades and the buckler with what you've given me, but … this Starter Sword's better off smelted. With the spear, I have the materials for … You wouldn't happen to be hiding enhancement material in there, wouldn't you?"

The player scanned through his items storage before shaking his head 'no', making Lisbeth give a relieving sigh that there was at least something he didn't have that he bashed his head into something hard for.

The training smith then asked, gathering up the weapons and leaned them over the sharpening wheel, "I'll also need to know what enhancements you want from these. Currently, I have some Sharpness, a few Durability, three Accuracy, one Heaviness and quite a lot of Quickness. If you're wanting them all to have something other than Quickness, you'll have to wait for tomorrow for me to get the material."

The player pondered and shifted around for a few seconds, giving some deep thought into what he wanted.

Lisbeth was about to get impatient with him before he answered, "We'll take the Sharpness and Durability for the Anneal Blades and buckler, and then perhaps two Accuracy and a Quickness for the spear." He then pulled the menu back down and opened the trade bar to her before entering in the appropriate amount of Col.

The blacksmith accepted the trade, though surprised the player was so callous about giving money to her before she even got started. Now curious as she brought the equipment to the back and motioned for the player to follow her, she asked him, "So what's the occasion with all this equipment? Lucked out and had to be the delivery boy for your friends?"

A moment of silence before he answered, giving Lisbeth the impression he had shrugged, "Not far off, though some of these aren't for any friends we've made when all this started. Reason why was because recently the Floor Boss was discovered."

Lisbeth immediately turned around and stared at the player in gaping surprise. As much as she had learned and listened in on other people, during the past two months was just met with people dying left and right and others struggling to stay alive. Not to mention how no one ever talked about a 'Floor Boss' or anyone had seen where it was.

Naturally, this gave the impression amongst players running shops and the more casual players that go out to fight and gain their daily Col that the First Floor was going to be the Only Floor. That they were just doomed to sit and die where they started.

The player continued, "And a pretty sizeable group of us are due to go and kill it in the morning. So we'd figured it would be best if we enhanced what helpful equipment we had on us before resting up and tackling that pillar out there." He gave a small tilt with his head to indicate the tower where the First Floor Labyrinth was.

Lisbeth blinked a few times at him in stunned silence before returning to her given work. After finishing up on sharpening the weapons and applying a few whacks on the shield with the Repair Hammer, Lisbeth then turned her attention to the smelter and quickly put in the Enhancement materials.

Again, the door to the shop opened and the bell rang. Lisbeth looked back in surprise before calling out, "Currently with another customer! Please wait!"

The player that was with her looked out around the corner and asked with mild surprise, "Kibaou? You shop here, too?"

With surprise being shared all around, the cactus haired man blinked and gave a small start, "Midir?" After recovering a little he gave a small shrug, "Nah, I just heard about how some players were getting their equips upgraded and took a look around myself ..."

Kibaou paused for a moment, his eyes looking down and to the left before looking back up and asking, "You're still not pissed at me back at the meeting, right?"

Midir gave a light shake of his head, "Honestly? Most of what we said was just to sledge you down a few pegs as well as get everyone back on track." He straightened his back a little, the game supplying with a few audible cracks as he continued, "We've already lost two'k, and this game's clearly an endurance run. The more we lose people or the more we get distracted about some other group, the less our chances get."

Kibaou and Lisbeth gave Midir a curious gaze as the cactus haired player asked, "Endurance? I thought this game was more of a survival."

"That'd be the case," Midir explained as habit started to take over and he began to stretch, "if we were literally absorbed into the game and transformed into data and didn't leave our physical bodies behind. So let's give a pop quiz: How long can a human body survive with no effort given into getting water or food?"

The question threw Lisbeth off and left her confused as to what Midir was going on about while Kibaou gave some consideration before he started slowly, "Mmm, three days with no water ..." Then the implications started to dawn on him, "Oh shit."

"Shit is right," Midir nodded grimly, having finished stretching his calves, "We're still back at home, or quite possibly at a hospital by now with the NerveGears still on our heads, all the while we're hooked up to IV's and feeding tubes, spending and consuming resources that a lot of other people who've got more serious injuries or problems might need."

"And we can't exactly just tell everyone that or they'll go ballistic and start suicidally charging at everything just to hurry things along," Kibaou added in his thoughts, "I've ran P.R a few times before IRL, and even I know better than to just give everything straight ... That's why you're saying this is an endurance run."

With everything finally spelled out to Lisbeth, she stopped working on Midir's equipment and said shakily, "S'that ... this means that ..."

Midir gave another nod, "We stay here too long, then the governments around the world will start considering labeling us as tragic statistics and start pulling plugs on anyone deemed 'non-essential'."

"Hellova morbid thought, Midir," Kibaou commented, "Almost darker than the game your name's from."

"Yeah, its what happens when you take the world at its hardest. But still, lets focus on what we can do rather than what could happen," Midir gave a quick swat to Kibaou's shoulder, "But yeah, most've what we said at the meeting was just to smack your grudge about the Beta Testers. Not exactly happy with how they up and left, but with all things considered, they're probably doing the same thing we'd do and get everything that's the best to survive longer."

Kibaou gave a small grumble and rubbed his shoulder a little before looking at Lisbeth and asking, "Ya gonna be awhile? Kinda needin this scale mail upgraded."

She didn't immediately respond, as her thoughts still dwelled on the foreboding doom that had been discussed. Seeing that, Midir gave his own grumble, "And now she's out of it, joy."

"Well you did talk 'bout us getting killed if we stick around too long, so serves ya right on that."

=(-)=(+)=


End file.
